In Dreams
by MesT
Summary: White Witch has cursed Peter and Caspian, dooming them to eternal sleep... and death. The two men must rise above the animosity they feel toward one another and work together for their chance at survival. A story of friendship in desperate times. NO slash
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Characters based on the movie version of "Prince Caspian." Not sure how fitting the "genres" are that I've chosen in the story description, but we'll see how it goes. I foresee making a few changes as I go along. This will be a multi-chapter thing. Not sure about eventual slash... Let me know what you think on that matter.

Story takes place shortly after the brief encounter with the White Witch.

* * *

Peter shot up in bed.

His face was damp. It was already late morning, but his limbs ached as though he had barely slept.

Quickly getting dressed, he exited the bedroom and made his way to the main chamber of Aslan's How.

"Peter!" came a cheery greeting. Lucy threw her arms around her brother's midsection in a quick hug. "You're up quite late, you know."

"Yeah…" mumbled Peter, thoughtfully running a hand through his hair. "D'you know, I've just had the strangest dream. Where are the others?"

"I'm not sure about Ed and Sue, but Caspian is still slee – Caspian!" she exclaimed as the prince sleepily walked into the room. He was pleasantly startled as the youngest Pevensie gave him a greeting similar to Peter's.

Both men frowned at the sight of the other.

"Shouldn't you be freeing the Witch, or would you rather save that for evening?" shot Peter sarcastically.

"Shouldn't you be killing our people?" spit back Caspian, advancing a step toward Peter.

"Stop it!" exclaimed Susan, who had just come through the door. "You're both in the wrong, now learn to work together or we're all doomed."

The two men glared at each other with clenched fists but said nothing.

"Have you both only_ just_ gotten up?" inquired Susan, changing the subject.

"I had a dream," said Caspian, relaxing a bit in Susan's presence. "It was strange. It was difficult to wake from it, as if –"

"As if something were holding on to you, trying to trap you," cut in Peter, beginning to feel a little excited that he wasn't the only one to have had such an experience. He frowned once more, though, as Caspian shot him a furious look.

"How curious," said Lucy. "What do you suppose it means?"

"Nothing. It was just a dream," said Caspian dryly.

"But you _both _had it –" started Susan.

"A mere coincidence, clearly," shot Peter. He turned his back on them all and stalked out of the chamber, out of Caspian's infuriating presence.

* * *

_Caspian was surrounded by darkness. It was thick. He moved forward with great difficulty, the fabric of the air around him fighting his every step. It was like walking underwater. He wanted to get out of this place but had no idea which direction to go. He was surrounded by nothingness; a cold, suffocating emptiness. He started to panic. He began to thrash around, wildly, in hopes that _something_ would change about this horrifying place…_

The prince's eyes flew open and he loudly gasped for air as if he had just been drowning. The first thing that registered was Susan's worried face near his.

"Caspian!" she cried, her lips trembling. She gingerly reached out a hand and brushed loose strands of hair away from his forehead. She then hastily withdrew it as her shyness got the better of her.

"What… what happened?" he breathed, wincing at the pain in his limbs as he slowly sat up.

"You've been asleep for ages," she said. "You and Peter both. It's nearly evening. We've been trying to wake you."

Caspian blinked. His brows furrowed.

"This is not making much sense."

"You're telling me! Come, let's go see the others. They're in Peter's room." Susan stood and pulled Caspian to his feet. "I'm not sure if he's awake yet…"

They quickly made their way down the hall and to Peter's room. There they found Lucy and Edmund sitting on the bed with their brother, who was sitting up with his head in his hands.

"Ugghh," he said in greeting as he heard the door open and footsteps rush in.

"Oh, Peter," Susan breathed, kneeling beside him.

"You too?" he said weakly, glancing up at Caspian.

"Yes," he said, his voice barely above a whisper. "This… this feels like dark magic."

"I think you're right," said Edmund. "I can't think of any other explanation."

"But how? Or… _who_?" said Lucy.

Peter and Caspian glanced at each other as a terrible idea came to their heads.

"The White Witch," they voiced simultaneously.

"You think… you don't suppose…" Susan began.

"She tempted us, me and Caspian both. She got into our minds. What if she somehow still…" Peter paused, trying to put his thoughts in order.

"Still has a hold of us somehow, of our minds?" ventured Caspian. Everyone looked at him. "Perhaps she's trying to kill us. While we sleep." He swallowed, loudly.

"That's got to be it!" said Edmund.

"Right. Neither of you are going to sleep until we figure out how to get rid of this curse," ordered Susan.

Caspian sat down on the bed next to Peter, momentarily forgetting the quarrel he had with the man.

"Then we must start thinking fast," he said. "I don't exactly feel refreshed."

During the next few hours, Caspian and the four Pevensies paced the main Chamber, each deep in thought. The tension in the room could be cut with a knife. Many ideas had already been thrown around, none of them satisfactory. They even tried using a few drops from Lucy's vial, but the potion seemed to have no effect.

The two men had been unnaturally exhausted for a while now, and time was running out.

Susan sat down on a stool and sighed. Caspian, weary beyond anything he had ever felt, plopped down next to her. He gently leaned his head against her shoulder.

"We need Aslan," Lucy declared, breaking the silence. "It's the only option we have left."

"Aslan, Aslan," said Peter, wearily rubbing his eyes with his fingers. "Where _is_ he? He's gone, Lu. He won't rescue us, not this time."

"Caspian?" Susan ventured, gently squeezing his shoulder. The man didn't respond. His head began to slip off of her, and Susan caught him just as he began to lifelessly tumble to the floor.

"Help me!" Susan pleaded as she tried her best to hold on to the limp form.

Edmund ran to her side and helped to gently lower the prince to the floor. A second later he heard Lucy scream. Peter had collapsed as well.

With a lot of effort, Edmund and Susan managed to carry both of the bodies, one by one, to the nearest bed chamber. Edmund holding the shoulders and Susan grasping the legs, they hoisted the men onto the same bed.

"I don't care how much they complain about this when they wake up," panted Edmund, wiping the sweat from his brow, "but it'll be easier to keep watch on them this way."

"Find Cornelius," Susan told him. "Maybe he'll know what to do."

Edmund ran off, leaving the two girls alone with the lifeless forms on the bed. Lucy laid her head against her brother's chest, and Susan ran her fingers through the prince's locks.

They waited.

* * *

_Peter was trapped in darkness. He began to choke, gasping for air. He was convinced he was about to lose consciousness when suddenly he caught something out of the corner of his eye. It was a hand. An arm. Shoulders. Long hair. _

Instantly Peter was shocked into consciousness – for the first time, he realized he was dreaming _during _the dream itself. His heart caught in his throat as he recognized a shape trying to claw its way through the thick fabric of nothingness, not too far off from where he was standing.

"Caspian!!" he shouted.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: **Thanks sooo much for the feedback and for being so patient!! :))) Right now I'm planning on 5 chapters total, and I expect the next chapters to come out much faster.

**Chapter 2**

"Caspian!" Peter shouted, the thick darkness somewhat muffling his voice.

Caspian turned and noticed him for the first time, a wild look in his eyes. "I can't breathe," he choked.

Despite the urgency of the situation, Peter dared to feel optimistic. The darkness around him was already beginning to thin. He was somehow gaining a small measure of control.

Just then Caspian fell to his knees, his hands around his throat, struggling to breathe. His face was turning red. He was suffocating. Peter made his way over to the man with less difficulty than he expected and knelt before him.

"Caspian," he said, attempting to pry the man's hands from his neck as he spoke. "I understand now. This is a dream. This is _your_ mind. All you have to do is become aware." Caspian didn't seem to hear him and kept choking, so Peter continued to speak, his voice becoming more urgent. "Wake up. You are dreaming. Wake up! Damn you…"

Just when Peter was about to give in to panic, Caspian suddenly froze. He lifted his head and saw Peter staring down at him. He slowly removed his hands from his neck and straightened ever so slightly.

"What in the name of Aslan…" he breathed, studying his surroundings with wide eyes as if for the first time.

The instant Caspian found his awareness, both men noticed the darkness around them begin to dissipate. They silently watched as it disappeared and new scenery slowly came into view. Peter stood and had half a mind to help Caspian to his feet, but the prince was already standing before he could extend the offer.

They were standing in what looked to be a large field. It extended in every direction, as far as the eye could see. The sky was darkened with an eerie twilight. The scene looked better than what they had just survived, but it still felt far from reassuring. Peter shifted his feet as a chill ran up his spine. A moment later he asked the inevitable question:

"What do we do now?"

* * *

"Mmm," muttered Doctor Cornelius as he knelt on one side of the bed that held the two youths.

"Is there anything you can tell us?" said Lucy, tears threatening to spill down her cheeks.

Cornelius stood and said gravely, "This is no simple magic. In all my years, I have never seen anything darker, more sinister, more dangerous."

This was not good news. The Pevensies exchanged panicked glances.

"Are we just supposed to sit here and do nothing? Just… _wait?_" demanded Edmund a bit harshly, in desperation focusing his anger on the professor.

"I am afraid we have no choice, my dear boy," said Cornelius in a voice barely above a whisper. He laid a wrinkled hand on the prince's forehead.

"Aslan isn't coming, is he?" whispered Lucy.

"No one can know the answer to that," said the professor. "If he never comes, perhaps it's because he has confidence in the boys' own strength. Or perhaps… this dark magic of the mind is too powerful, even for him."

"I can think of a worse possibility," muttered Edmund. All eyes turned on him, but it was Cornelius who said:

"Yes. Perhaps Aslan feels that it is simply… their time. We can only pray that that is not the case."

* * *

Caspian gazed at the eerie expanse of open land before them and sighed. "I suppose we walk."

The two started off at a slow and tense pace, choosing an arbitrary direction. There was utter silence in the air, only broken by their muffled footfalls. The longer they walked, the more tense they became. Each man began to feel the whisper of an evil presence nagging at the back of his mind. Prolonged exposure to this unseen threat was beginning to make them slightly paranoid. Caspian turned to look behind him on more than one occasion, but he hastily put on a front of indifference when he once caught Peter's gaze on him.

"I wonder how long we've been walking," Peter ventured. The sound of his voice interrupting the loneliness of that empty world made them both jump.

"A few minutes. An hour. It's impossible to tell," said Caspian wearily.

"Hold on," said Peter suddenly, putting out an arm to stop his companion. "What's that?"

They strained their eyes and could only just make out a small shape ahead of them in the distance.

"It's definitely moving toward us," said Caspian. He instinctively reached for the hilt of his sword, only for his hand to close on empty air. The men stared at each other in horror. They had no weapons.

Peter's heart sank. A nagging hopelessness found its way into his heart. "We're in an impossible situation. How are we supposed to – "

"Stop," warned Caspian. He pointed toward the sky where black clouds were beginning to gather at Peter's words. "Look at that. This place is reacting to our fears."

Peter cursed under his breath. They continued to walk forward. The figure was getting closer. They could already guess that it was human. The distance between the men and the figure was closing very rapidly now, and they used these last moments to try to mentally prepare themselves for the confrontation. Then:

"_Lucy??" _Peter gasped. There, coming towards him, was his sister. She was beaming at him. Her eyes were sparkling, and her arms were outstretched. She was so happy to see him, and Peter felt the emotion two-fold.

"High King… Hi – _Peter!_" Caspian yelled after him, but Peter was already running at full speed toward his sister. He laughed as he was just about to reach her, his arms ready to lift her up…

But Caspian was faster. Before Peter realized what was happening, the prince pounced on Lucy and was strangling her throat with every ounce of strength in his body. Lucy's eyes were wide with shock, and she choked violently as she desperately tried to scream. At once there was a sickening _crack_ as the delicate bones of her neck broke, and she fell limp in Caspian's arms.

Peter stared as a wave of horror and disbelief made him sway on his feet. His body threatened to collapse just when hot fury enveloped him. He didn't hear Caspian crying his name as he lunged at the man, murder on his mind. He knocked Caspian to the ground and roared with anguish as he blindly punched the body beneath him.

Caspian wrapped his arms around his head and face in vain; Peter's blows stopped at nothing. He felt himself on the verge of blacking out when Peter, in his blind rage, offered him a weak spot. Caspian ignored the blows as best he could and kneed the man in between the legs with all his strength.

Peter doubled up in pain. The blows ceased. Caspian took a few precious moments to catch his breath before shoving Peter flat on the ground onto his stomach. He twisted the protesting man's arms behind his back and laid his entire length on him to keep him immobilized.

"Look, you fool," rasped Caspian in his ear, blood trickling from his mouth onto the man's face. "That's - not - Lucy_. Look!_"

Peter refused to obey, but Caspian grabbed a handful of his hair and forced his head in the proper direction.

Peter gasped.

"That's… not Lucy…" He stared in disbelief. Caspian groaned in relief. He rolled off of Peter and lay on the ground with eyes closed, panting. Peter got up on his hands and knees and crept forward for a closer look. What lay on the ground, dead, was the stuff of nightmares. It was a monster, blood-red in color, with deadly fangs protruding out of what Peter presumed to be a mouth. Its razor-sharp claws extended at an awkward angle beyond its limbs. A piece of cloth was stuck in one of them. Peter looked down at his shirt to see a chunk missing.

He turned to Caspian, overwhelming guilt forming a lump in his throat. "That's what you saw all along." Caspian moaned in reply. "You saved my life."

Caspian began to shake from a coughing fit that produced a disturbing amount of blood. Peter rushed to his side. He lifted the man into a half-sitting position to keep him from choking. Peter held him in his arms until the fit ceased.

As soon as Caspian regained enough strength to stand, he did so. Peter moved to assist him but Caspian, with pure hatred in his eyes, said stiffly, "Please. Don't touch me." Without another word Caspian stepped over the dead creature and continued forward.

* * *

**A/N: **I hope that wasn't too brutal! I have big plans for the next chapter – particularly, a scene the likes of which I have yet to come across in a fanfic. Dun dun dun ;)


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